Does anyone have a recommendation for a snap repair kit? The "speed snaps" (button side) on the Hondaline Leather saddlebags gave way. They haven't pulled throught the leather so should be fairly straightforward. How do you identify the size of the snap?

There are a lot of snap repair kits available online for canvas, tonneau covers, fetish gear, etc. and all the local cobblers are booked weeks to months (presumed due to the economy).

my snaps on one of my willie&max hand me down bags (I'm 3rd owner) have torn thru, so I used industrial velcro, and put gorilla glue on the sticky sides of velcro, on the face of the bags, works so far, it's been about 1000 miles ago.

There are two standard sizes for snaps that I know of: Snap 24s and Snap 20s. Both are available at Tandy Leather. If you're near a store you can take your bags in and try them on their snaps.

Snap 24s are larger, and probably what you need. The inside "bump" part, or male, is 0.377" OD. The female receiver is the same.

Snap 20s are smaller and lighter, with the male part at 0.260", the female part being the same.

If the snaps are pulling through the leather you should reinforce the leather before replacing the snap. Remove the snap part on the leather that's pulling out. Get a scrap piece of thick-enough leather, put a hole in the middle, and use contact cement on the inside of the saddlebag and the non-shiny side of the leather patch, and glue it in place. Then replace the snap part.

Even if you can't find an exact replacement, it'll be easier to remove both the male and female parts and replace both. Drill them out and carefully use needle nose pliers.

Tandy Leather has a kit that contains snaps (10 brass and 10 chrome), a setter and anvil, and instructions, for about ~$10. It's better to go with something standard because if you need to do the repair again, or to repair any other snaps, you'll be better prepared.

Register Now

In order to be able to post messages on the Honda Shadow Forums : Shadow Motorcycle Forum forums, you must first register.
Please enter your desired user name, your email address and other required details in the form below.

User Name:

Password

Please enter a password for your user account. Note that passwords are case-sensitive.

Password:

Confirm Password:

Email Address

Please enter a valid email address for yourself.

Email Address:

OR

Log-in

User Name

Password

Remember Me?

Human Verification

In order to verify that you are a human and not a spam bot, please enter the answer into the following box below based on the instructions contained in the graphic.